Thursday, September 1, 2011

What Luck!?

They say the success of a rain dance has a lot to do with timing.
Corn rustled with dried, almost dead, leaves.
Cobs rattled together, too small and too dry.
Grasses crunch, crunched underfoot
and in the mouths of the animals who chewed.

I salvaged the tomatoes with a daily hosing.
The garden a round patch of green, an island.
Frogs moved into the yard, the pond, the trees.
Croaking for every drop of water they found.

Forecasts watched, science more like lucky bones.
Knuckles of a goat on dusty circles predict the same.
Clouds mean rain, well really! Sun is too hot. Duh.
Black hoses hold steaming hot water, enough to bathe.

Dogs and cows pant in the heat, no relief.
Cats seek questionable shade and heave.
Frogs and dogs share the pond, wet and cool.
Hummingbirds drain the nectar, not enough flowers.

World shakes, floods rise and fall back, smoke rises
and fires edge closer to the farms. She's angry
the old ones sagely say, our mother the Earth,
she is holding a hissy fit in weather and watch out!

I don't know about all that, but I do know this.
The happy sounds of thankful baby birds
singing in the rain, of dogs splashing, cows slurping.
Horses rolling in genuine muddy pastures.

It could be the edges of the hurricane's rain
come to visit the prairie's dry soils.
The rain song of a six years old boy worked,
he is sure. The rain came, the toads hopped.

The timing is critical, to be sure, in rain dances.
The same is true for so much other 'luck'.
Maybe it is not 'luck' after all but God having
a laugh at us trying to do His job of running things.
 
2011 Copyright Shanyn Silinski

20 comments:

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

I do so love this poem Shanyn--- imagery like this--Knuckles of a goat on dusty circles predict the same-- and especially in the first part of the poem, three or four stanzas, very strong! xxj

Anonymous said...

I hope I don't sound like every other person commenting, but I love pieces who leave me with images. I love dogs, I love frogs (well, kind of like them anyway) and I could see all of this happening in a magic back-yard of my own. Well done! Thank you for the images, they do inspire!

Mystic_Mom said...

Jenne - thanks! Your words so encourage me, and keep me inspired to keep writing.

CC Champagne - thank you for your kind words! You encourage me. Great to see you here, thanks for stopping by.

ShonEjai said...

I love your writing style. It just pulls the reader in and takes us along the journey with you. Very inspiring!

Mystic_Mom said...

ShonEjai - thanks for looking around my blog, and for leaving your comment. I'm glad you are enjoying your tour here!

Kerry O'Connor said...

The effects of long-term drought are devastating - you captured the deprivation very well in the opening stanzas, and the relief of rain was palpable.

Mystic_Mom said...

Kerry - thank you! It was a strange year drought here and only hours away terrible flooding.

Anonymous said...

I can so relate to this. Here in TX it has been horrible. Where are you located?

~laurie

Mystic_Mom said...

Laurie - we are in SE Manitoba. Thanks for coming by, I hope you get some rain soon y'all need it too!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I enjoyed this poem SO MUCH!!! Love all the descriptions of animals and birds enjoying the welcome wetness. Loved the six year old boy whose rain dance worked. Loved the whole thing!

Mystic_Mom said...

Sherry - I'm SO GLAD! That just makes my day to read your comment! :-)

Anonymous said...

Ah beautiful, the images - I could have been there. Loved mother Earth's "hissy fit" as a description (some will always complain, even about the very thing they prayed for), against the boy's glee and poet's glad acceptance of rain (in whatever guise, for whatever cause), and that of nature's creatures. Liked your take on luck too.

Mary said...

It does noo harm at all to think that a rain dance worked! Why not, for a time, believe in magic! A wonderful poem filled with images to sink my teeth into. Mary

Mystic_Mom said...

Turtle - thanks for stopping by. It is great to see you here, and hear what you enjoyed about the poem.

Mary - no it does no harm at all, does it? Thanks for coming by and I'm so glad you enjoyed the poem.

Kay L. Davies said...

A wonderful poem, and I love the ending.

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

Mystic_Mom said...

Kay - thanks so much for coming by, I'm glad you enjoyed the poem! :-)

Anonymous said...

im reading bellow's henderson the rain king just now, and this is entirely fitting. we forget, in our abundance, and in this age of convenience the importance, the very life, that is in the rain.

Mystic_Mom said...

Shawnacy - you are so right! I'm going to find that book too, thanks for that. And thanks for coming by leaving commenting. Great to see you here.

Liz Rice-Sosne said...

This was wonderful, evoking numerous emotions within me. I hope that you have the rain that you need soon.

Mystic_Mom said...

Thanks Old Raven! :-) We did get some rain! So glad you stopped by!

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me some of your words...bright blessings!